Almost Christmas Eve.

Ahhh.  How nice it was to wake up slowly this morning.  Dennis is off work until Tuesday and no alarm went off.  We slept until almost 8:00 when he had a call from Nigeria.  It was nice while it lasted.  He's now off to the church for some last minute details for the Christmas Eve service and I'm about to begin pie baking.

I loved the message from you Kaylana.  What a wonderful way to live.  I love travel and meeting new people.  Now that Alex will be living in Tokyo it will be easier to go visit him.  No more bullet train, local train and car to get to him.  I don't remember if I told you that he has a new job beginning in February.  He will be translating at Keio University.  It's the oldest private university in Tokyo.  He won't be teaching anymore, but maybe in the future an opportunity will arise to teach there.  He's very excited, although he will miss the many close friends he's made in his years in Aomori Prefecture.  Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that he just turned 23 last week.  He's accomplished so much in his life already.  Much more than I have!

Jamie, (our son from Montana), his wife Crystal and our two precious grandbabies are arriving this afternoon.  Our daughter Mandy and husband Brad will drive from Portland, OR tomorrow.  Brad is working in North Dakota right now and will fly to Portland tonight.  I wish Alex were here and I would have all of my family in one place.  That rarely happens anymore.  But I will count my blessings and enjoy the family I do have here.

A friend was over last night and he and Dennis got my Ipad all set up for me.  I Love, Love, Love it already.  I wasted almost an hour this morning playing with it!  I've downloaded several book and I'm trying to find some cool knitting/crocheting applications.

Okay-last pictures of Maui.  Thanks for being patient with me and allowing me to post these. It's like reliving my time there.

I love the trees on Hawaii.  The way they frame the ocean.  The first two pictures are of beaches just off the highway.  They are scattered up and down the coast. Just pull over, swim, stand-up paddle, surf or snorkel.  It's wonderful.  Usually picnic tables and grills are there along with the wonderful smelling portable toilets!

 I have no idea what these flowers are.  But I think they're beautiful and purple is my favorite color of all.

 I couldn't decide which of the following two photos to include so I just put them both in.  We were sitting in the Kool Kat cafe having lunch one day in Lahaina.  The building is the Best Western Hotel just across the street from the Banyan Tree that takes up the entire city block.  The ocean and bay is directly behind the hotel.  This is the area that the tsunami from Japan hit last spring but we didn't see any residual damage at all.  I love sitting up in the cafe and people watching.

 Our last full day on Maui we went to Fred's, a mexican restaurant right on the beach.  No, we didn't take our pictures in the cut out but I thought it was cute.  If you like really spicey Mexcian food, Fred's is the place to go.  I don't.  Dennis got both of our lunches.  It was highly recommended by people we met in the hot tub at the condo so we decided to give it a try.  The atomosphere was fabulous though.

 Here we are, ready to say good-bye.   Never ready to say good-bye, but at some point reality sets in!

 I bought a starfish all glittered and shells glued on. It was made by school children in Lahaina for a fundraiser for the school.  The little girl I bought it from was the cutest thing!  The sparkles don't show well but it's very slivery with glitter.  And yes, it's a real starfish.

Then, of course, because I collect angels, Dennis bought this one made of native trees and grasses.  It was at a bazaar under the Banyan tree with all of the proceeds going to the food bank.  A worthy cause and she's beautiful.

And,  one last sunset.  Our last night on Maui.  Very sad to go, but maybe next year???

I'll be back next week with Christmas pictures.  May you all have a very blessed Christmas and I pray you'll all have a wonderful time with family, friends or traveling.  Thanks for being my blog friends.  Maybe someday we'll even meet in person.  Wouldn't that be wonderful?  I always say, you can never, ever have too many friends and loved ones.

Blessings to you all,

Betsy